Woman Saves Pet Lizard By CPR

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SALEM, Ore. (CBS Seattle/AP) — When a Salem woman found her pet bearded dragon floating unconscious in his pool she immediately started CPR with chest compressions and blowing air into the lizard’s mouth.

Sherrie Dolezal hung her 3-year-old pet upside down to clear water from his mouth and before long he opened his eyes and started to move.

The 62-year-old who calls herself the Reptile Rescuer also keeps 21 other lizards at her home.

“I rescue bearded dragons,” Dolezal said. “I call myself the Reptile Rescuer. So many people get them and think they’re cute when they’re babies, and then they just ignore them or let them loose to die. People don’t know what to do with them when they get big. I want people to know I’ll take them in and find homes for them or keep them, and I’ll even give them mouth-to-mouth if that’s what it takes.”

She told Statesman Journal when she put her beloved Del Sol in his pool Tuesday she forgot to put rocks in so he could climb about. When she came back he was floating face up so she started resuscitation.

“But I forgot to put the rocks back in it so he could climb out and about, and when I came back I was sure he was dead, which just killed me because Del belongs to my great-grandson, Roberto,” Dolezal told the newspaper. “I really couldn’t remember how many chest compressions should be given before a rescue breath, but he was blue so I just did it. I was really amazed it worked.”